2025 AHL All Star Classic: Skills Competition
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PALM DESERT, CA - The best and brightest were on display at Acrisure Arena as the Eastern Conference All-Stars out-shined the Western Conference All-Stars 19-13 Sunday night in the Coachella Valley at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic Skills Competition.
The Western Conference All-Stars jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the Puck Control Relay Event, winning three of the four races - including both of the 1-on-1 races.
The fastest skater event saw Bakersfield's Matthew Savoie turn in the fastest time, with his 13.654 time being the () fastest in AHL All-Star Classic history.
"I mean, just was trying to stay up and not go down in the turn there," Savoie said after the Skills Competition. "A little bit of a shock to the system at first, going in cold, but it definitely got me warmed up pretty quick, doing the hot lap."
The Rapid Fire event isn't typically friendly toward the goaltenders participating, but Providence's Michael DiPietro and Toronto's Dennis Hildeby each stopped eight of the 10 shots they faced to help the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
After nearly losing the puck in the puck control relay race, Charlotte's Trevor Carrick told rinkside broadcaster Alan Fuehring of the Bridgeport Islanders that he was looking forward to the Hardest Shot competition and the Checkers' defenseman didn't disappoint - winning the competition as the only player to break triple digits with a 100.9 mph shot on his second attempt.
The Eastern Conference All-Stars started the comeback in the accuracy shooting event, with all four skaters hitting all four targets. Springfield's Dalibor Dvorsky went 4-for-6 to claim the best performance.
"I was kind of hoping that that would be one of the things I would do," Dvorsky told InsideAHLHockey.com. "So, it was fun. It's always fun to shoot some pucks."
Dvorsky also scored two goals for the Eastern Conference in the pass and score event, as did Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Owen Pickering.
"We had a plan, didn't follow it at all and we just kind of let instincts take over," Pickering said of what made his trio in the pass and score successful with Utica's Simon Nemec and Hershey's Alex Limoges. "A couple nice passes. Yeah, credit to my teammates for sure."
Dipeitro continued his strong play in net in the breakaway relay, stopping all five shooters he faced.
Lehigh Valley's Olle Lycksell had the goal of the night in the breakaway relay, going between his legs and then back through his legs before lifting one over Calgary's Devin Cooley.
Savoie also had a pretty goal for the Western Conference with a series of quick moves before opening up the net on his forehand shot.
"Honestly, I didn't really know what I was gonna do going in and then - especially with the little antics before at the water bottle," Savoie said of his shootout attempt in the breakaway relay. "But yeah, I just wanted to try and beat him, and luckily, I did."
San Jose's Yarolslav Askarov also went 5-for-5, but it was too little too late for the Western Conference as the East took the win in the Skills Competition by a 19-13 score.
Providence's Michael DiPietro and Toronto's Dennis Hildeby shared the top-goaltender award for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
Full recap of the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic Skills Competition below.
Event 1 - Puck Control Relay
Race #1 - WEST
EAST - Olle Lycksell, John Leonard and Isak Rosen
WEST - Ryan Suzuki, Rory Kerins and Elias Salomonsson
Race #2 - EAST
EAST - Dalibor Dvorsky, Simon Nemec and Trevor Carrick
WEST - Cole Guttman, Austin Watson and Grigori Denisenko
Race #3 - WEST
EAST - Owen Pickering
WEST - Cameron Hebig
Race #4 - WEST
EAST - Jeremy Davies
WEST - Jani Nyman
SCORE AFTER EVENT ONE: 3-1 WEST
### Event 2 - Fastest Skater
Fastest Skater: Matthew Savoie WEST (13.654) Fastest Team Average: EAST (13.799 average)
EAST
Isak Rosen (13.870) Trey Fix-Wolansky (13.760) John Leonard (13.767)
WEST
Jacob MacDonald (13.852) Matthew Savoie (13.654) Jani Nyman (14.453)
SCORE AFTER EVENT TWO: 4-2 WEST
Event 3 - Rapid Fire
Team with the most total saves: EAST (Michael DiPietro and Dennis Hildeby each stopped 8 of 10)
Round 1
Ty Mueller and Cole Guttman vs. Michael DiPietro
EAST Saves: 8
Round 2
Logan Shaw and Alex Limoges vs. Sebastian Cossa
WEST Saves: 5
Round 3
Sam Colangelo and Brendan Gaunce vs Devon Levi
EAST Saves: 5
Round 4
Simon Nemec and Ethan Bear vs. Devin Cooley
WEST Saves: 6
Round 5
Elias Salomonsson and Kevin Korchinski vs Dylan Garand
EAST Saves: 4
Round 6
Alex Belzile and Brett Murray vs. Matt Murray
WEST Saves: 6
Round 7
Curtis McKenzie and Grigori Denisenko vs Denis Hildeby
EAST Saves: 8
Round 8
Brian Pinho and Alex Steeves vs. Yaroslav Askarov
WEST Saves: 5
SCORE AFTER EVENT 3: 4-3 WEST
Event 4 - Hardest Shot
Player with hardest shot: EAST Trevor Carrick (100.9 mph) Team with higher average: WEST
EAST
Trevor Carrick (96.8 mph, 100.9 mph) Ethan Bear (94.8 mph, 94.5 mph) Derrick Pouliot (96.2 mph, 88.8 mph) Emil Bemstrom (92.9 mph, 94.2 mph)
WEST
Joakim Kemell (95.6 mph, 95.2 mph) Samuel Fagemo (98.0 mph, 95.2 mph) Andrew Poturalski (98.0 mph, 98.3 mph) Sam Colangelo (97.8 mph, 97.1 mph)
SCORE AFTER EVENT 4: 5-4 WEST
Event 5 - Accuarcy Shooting
Player with most hits in fewest attempts: Dalibor Dvorsky (4-for-6) Team with most total hits in fewest attempts: EAST (16-for-29)
EAST
Simon Nemec: 4-for-8 Alex Belzile 4-for-8 Olle Lycksell 4-for-7 Dalibor Dvorsky: 4-for-6
WEST
Justin Hryckowian: 2-for-8 Matthew Savoie: 3-for-8 Samuel Fagemo: 4-for-8 Andrew Poturalski: 2-for-8
SCORE AFTER EVENT 5: 6-5 EAST
Event 6 - Pass and Score
Round 1
Alex Limoges, Simon Nemec and Owen Pickering vs Sebastian Cossa
EAST goals by: Owen Pickering (X2)
Round 2
Ryan Suzuki, Austin Watson and Sam Colangelo vs. Michael DiPietro
WEST goals by: Sam Colangelo
Round 3
Dalibor Dvorsky, Jeremy Davies and Alex Steeves vs Devin Cooley
EAST goals by: Jeremy Davies, Dalibor Dvorsky (x2)
Round 4
Brendan Gaunce, Joakim Kemell and Kevin Korchinski vs Devon Levi
WEST goals by: None
Round 5
Trey Fix-Wolansky, Isak Rosen and Derrick Pouliot vs. Matt Murray
EAST goals by: Trey Fix-Wolanksy
Round 6
Cole Guttman, Cameron Hebig and Jacob MacDonald vs Dylan Garand
WEST goals by: Cole Guttman
Round 7
Logan Shaw, Brian Pinho and Brett Murray vs Yaroslav Askarov
EAST goals by: Logan Shaw
Round 8
Rory Kerins, Justin Hryckowian and Ty Mueller vs Denis Hildeby
WEST goals by: Justin Hryckowian
SCORE AFTER EVENT 6: 13-8 EAST
Event 7 - Breakaway Relay
Round 1
Brian Pinho - no goal Jeremy Davies - GOAL
Trevor Carrick - no goal Emil Bemstrom - no goal Trey Fix-Wolansky - no goal
vs. Sebastian Cossa (stops 4/5)
Round 2
Jani Nyman - no goal Jacob MacDonald - no goal Brendan Gaunce - no goal Grigori Denisenko - no goal Joakim Kemell - no goal
vs. Michael DiPietro (stops 5/5)
Round 3
Olle Lycksell - GOAL Isak Rosen - no goal
Dalibor Dvorsky - GOAL Logan Shaw - GOAL Simon Nemec - no goal
vs. Devin Cooley (stopped 2/5)
Round 4
Justin Hryckowian - no goal Ty Mueller - GOAL Cameron Hebig - GOAL Cole Guttman- GOAL Sam Colangelo - no goal
vs Devon Levi (stops 2/5)
Round 5
Alex Limoges - GOAL Alex Steeves - no goal Alex Belzile - GOAL Brett Murray - no goal
John Leonard - no goal
vs. Matt Murray (stops 3/5)
Round 6
Rory Kerins - GOAL Kevin Korchinski - no goal Samuel Fagemo - no goal Curtis McKenzie - no goal Matthew Savoie - GOAL
vs. Dylan Garand (stops 3/5)
Round 7
Derrick Pouliot - no goal
Ethan Bear - no goal
Isak Rosen - no goal
Owen Pickering - no goal Trey Fix-Wolansky - no goal
vs. Yaroslav Askarov (stops 5/5)
Round 8
Austin Watson - no goal Jani Nyman - no goal Elias Salomonsson - no goal Ryan Suzuki - no goal Andrew Poturalski - no goal
vs. Dennis Hildeby (stops 5/5)
SCORE AFTER EVENT 7: 19-13 EAST
